Growing Up
by ThePenguinofDeath
Summary: She was trusting, beautiful, practically perfect, and entirely too good for him. But still, Scorpius couldn't look away. Next generation story. Scorose. A snapshot every year of how the relationship between Scorpius and Rose is changing. One-shot for now.


**This isn't so much a story, more a series of chronological snapshots about the relationship between Rose and Scorpius. It was something I just felt like writing for no real reason. Please review with what you think, I'm very interested to hear everyone's thoughts on this style of writing!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters. All credit to JK Rowling for the magical world of Harry Potter.**

**First Year**

She was the girl who he sat next to in charms class. The girl with the flaming red hair and the just as vibrant personality, the girl who laughed in happiness every time she succeeded in casting a new spell (which was almost every day, because her intelligence was incredible too). She was the person who always volunteered to help people when they were stuck, who spent her evenings curled up on the sofa with a book, assisting anyone with any homework that they hadn't done. When someone ended up in the hospital wing, she was the first visitor there, no matter whether she knew or even particularly liked them – true, the visit might only results in hateful comments and leave her in floods of tears, but she would make the effort anyway. She was the girl who hated Quidditch because she had inherited her mum's fear of flying, but still turned out for every match and cheered on her house's team. She was trusting, beautiful, practically perfect, and entirely too good for him. But still, Scorpius couldn't look away.

He was the boy who had nervously placed his bag next to hers in their first lesson together, and asked if he could sit there with a hopeful expression in his eyes. The boy who rarely spoke, but when he did had the smoothest, nicest-sounding voice in the world, the boy who could have been Mr Popular with his connections and abilities yet chose to stay in the shadows, the boy who seemed to observe everything with his beautiful grey eyes that seemed to pierce your very soul. He was the person who never asked for help because he never needed it – he rummaged through book after book until he found the answer and persevered with incredible determination and wasn't satisfied until everything was right. When you heard about someone getting lost around the castle, it was nearly always him, because his head was always full of other things – he thought about so much with his enormous brain that the real world seemed to be a secondary consideration. He was the boy who loved to fly, who was too young to be on the team but never complained about it, and could often be seen soaring over the forest on a borrowed broom. He was intriguing, and handsome, someone who didn't make sense, and entirely too good for her. But even so, Rose couldn't look away.

**Second Year**

She was the girl who escorted her younger brother to class for the first week so was late for all her own, but didn't care because his welfare came first. The girl who had grown her hair halfway down her back and allowed it to flow like a flaming river, the girl who chewed her quill while she was thinking, the girl who offered beaming smiles to everyone she spoke to and many people that she didn't. She was the person who was always praised for her effort in class and in her homework, and continued to help everyone else to reach the same level. When she tripped down the stairs going to the Great Hall, five different people tried to help her up, because her friendliness had made her one of the most popular people around. She was the girl who leant her spare robes to her cousin Lily because Lily lost her own and was worried that her mum would be mad, and then chastised James for teasing Lily about how the robes were a bit baggy and made her look even smaller than she was. She was just as intelligent and trusting and beautiful as before, and loved by everyone for it. But Scorpius loved her most of all – and only saw her across the room in class, as they didn't sit together any more.

He was the boy who arrived on the first day back looking pale and drawn and more thankful to be back than any normal second-year would be. The boy who paid more attention to how he looked, styling his hair in a way that accentuated his features and made many of the girls stare. He was the person who was never praised for his intelligence yet was never outside the top three achievers in class, and the person who made his house Quidditch team as a Seeker ahead of the fifth year who had held the role for the past few years. When he knocked his pumpkin juice over in the Great Hall, a couple of girls fussed and tried to help him mop it up, but everyone else just laughed, because he wasn't very popular and they liked having someone to tease. He was the boy who she always saw in the corner of the library, because he liked being alone to read so that no-one disturbed him, and the boy who she saw most lessons yet didn't speak to, as even though she was confident around everyone else she found herself oddly shy around him. He was still intriguing and handsome and someone who she wanted to figure out, but it felt like they were drifting away because they were so different.

**Third Year**

She was the girl who he started talking to in Care of Magical Creatures. The girl who laughed with him as they attempted to determine the correct amount of lettuce to feed a flobberworm, the girl who he escorted to the hospital wing after she was scratched by a bowtruckle, the girl who always brightened his day just by being around and talking to him in a friendly way. She was the person who he could complain to about the gaggle of giggly, stupid girls who kept trying to sit with him when he was reading and talk, and she always seemed to understand. When he came top of their transfiguration class in a test, she was one of the only people who congratulated him, the others simply looking around in confusion and suspicion and muttering about Slytherin cheats. She was the girl who grinned at him when he caught the snitch in the match against Gryffindor, even though it meant her own house lost. She wasn't just trusting and beautiful any more – she was his friend, his only true friend, and the only reason why he managed to remain happy.

He was the boy who agreed to be her partner in Care of Magical Creatures with a beaming smile on his face and a shocked look in his eyes. The boy who drew impeccable, beautiful drawings of all the creatures that they handled but squirmed when dealing with the actual animals, the boy who was looked at with mistrust by the elderly Hagrid but always treated the man with the utmost respect. He was the person who girls flocked to because of his God-like appearance, yet only seemed irritated by their attention and preferred to spend his time reading instead. When she had to leave the castle for a few days because her dad was unwell and she was worried about him, he sent her an owl to check if she was alright, because he hadn't seen her in class and didn't know if she was unwell. He was the boy who continued to excel at Quidditch, and persuaded her to watch the Gryffindor versus Slytherin game in the rain – and when Gryffindor won, her cousin James catching the snitch, she almost felt disappointed as it meant Scorpius had missed out. He was sweet and friendly and surprisingly funny when you got to know him, and Rose couldn't understand why she was the only one who seemed to talk to him as a friend.

**Fourth Year**

She was the girl who comforted him after his parents finalised their divorce. The girl who was always around to give him hugs when he needed it, the girl who brought him food when he missed dinner and always knew where he would be, the girl who smelt like fruity shampoo and cinnamon perfume that could leave him fantasising for hours. She was the person who would leave her normal group of friends to go for walks with him when he just needed to get away from it all for a few hours, and he knew that he never thanked her enough for those times. When his schoolwork suffered slightly as a result of all the emotional trauma, she spoke to the professors on his behalf and then helped him until he caught up again and regained the motivation to try his best. But she was also the girl who announced that she was dating Stevie Longbottom halfway through the year, and spent less time with Scorpius because she was on dates with him, and the only girl who he felt the cold flare of jealousy around when she kissed her new boyfriend in front of him. She was understand and comforting and the best friend he could ask her, but Scorpius wanted more than a friend – and he knew that she didn't like him in that way.

He was the boy who was completely distraught because his parents were separating, and even though it was expected it took him a while to recover after it. The boy who trusted her enough to talk about all his secrets and insecurities, the boy who she had mini picnics with in the Room of Requirement because he didn't always feel like going to down to dinner, the boy who was undoubtedly growing up with a deepening voice and broadening shoulders that did things to her she didn't want to admit. He was the person who she gave more hugs to than was probably appropriate in a strictly platonic relationship, but he always appreciated them and they made her feel warm and safe, so she didn't stop. When she agreed to date Stevie Longbottom after he asked her so sweetly during a Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson, he congratulated her with a smile but it seemed forced, and from then on he withdrew slightly and she couldn't understand why. From then on, he was the boy who she met as often as she could to study and talk with, but couldn't get as close to as they had been because he was holding back. He was damaged and emotional but so, so lovely, and her feelings for him ran deeper than her feeling for anyone or anything else – but he wouldn't feel the same.

**Fifth Year**

She was the girl who brought a smile to his face for the first time in months after a long and draining summer, who he hugged on the platform and instantly felt ten times better about everything. The girl who he took into his room in the Slytherin dorms (because fifth years and up got private rooms if they wanted them, and it was a quieter place to chat than even the library nowadays), and then had to smuggle out again past the teachers and the other kids who might use her as blackmail for something. She was the person who had filled out over the summer and had the most gorgeous, killer legs that made his mouth water, as well as rounded breasts that he tried his hardest to avoid staring at because it wasn't appropriate. But when he got a little drunk at a Slytherin party he had been dragged to and slept with Cordelia Nott, he couldn't tell her even though they told each other everything, because he thought that she would disapprove and he always held the wistful thought that one day she might realise that she liked him as more than a friend. She was the girl who he had to keep more secrets from because he slept with Kaitlin Bones later on as well, and he was worried that she was going to find out because people started gossiping about it. She was gorgeous and a great friend who still have the best hugs, and was much too tempting for her own good, but he still didn't have the confidence to ask her to be more.

He was the boy who she had missed all summer, who she hugged on the platform to the amazement of her family which resulted in an awkward conversation with her parents. The boy who she started to sneak around with, to the Room of Requirement or his private bedroom in the Slytherin dorms, who made her feel rebellious and gave her an adrenaline rush with everything they did. He was the boy who held her when she broke up with Stevie, even though she wasn't truly that upset, but she put on a show because she liked the feeling of being held in his strong arms. When she walked in on him changing after Quidditch practise one day, he sent a sensation through her that she had never known before, and she had had to hide the feeling that the sight of his glistening, sculpted chest and messed-up hair had caused because you didn't think about friends like that. He was the boy who she heard rumours about from the girls – they all talked about how hot he was now, which sent flares of jealousy through her blood, but then they started saying that he'd slept with Cordelia and Kaitlin and she just felt inadequate. He was funny and handsome and gaining confidence with other people, and he was always going to prefer those gorgeous Slytherin girls who he could sleep with to the plain little Rose who had been his friend all along.

**Sixth Year**

She was the girl who finally agreed to be his girlfriend, and left him on a high for the rest of the year.

He was the boy who randomly blurted out the question one day, and just like that became her boyfriend, causing her to go through the year happier than at any other time in her life.

**Seventh Year**

She was the girl who had spent most of his summer with, and went back to school with as happy as ever. But then things got hard, and they argued, and cracks appeared, and suddenly they weren't together any more, and Scorpius had been left all alone.

He was the boy who invited her to Italy over the summer and she lost her virginity to in the guest bedroom of one of his dad's manors. They went back to school giddier than a pair of honeymooners – but reality set in, and he wanted too much of her time, and she couldn't cope, so she ended it, and tried to retreat back to her old friends. But they had all changed, and Rose didn't really fit in with them, and for the first time in her life she was completely alone.

**Never listen to sad music while writing, you end up with unhappy endings... I'm sorry! I might write a sequel if I get the time and the inspiration that could end on a nicer note. But for the meantime, I hope you liked the story and please do leave all your comments and criticism in a review! Thanks for reading!**


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